


Style

by just_ann_now



Category: Swordspoint Series - Ellen Kushner
Genre: Character Study, Childhood Memories, Ficlet, Games, Gen, Happy, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 10:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3526070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_ann_now/pseuds/just_ann_now
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not for Jess those demure ear-bobs of pink pearl or moonstone; oh, no, the earrings of her dreams were bright loops of copper wire with green stones.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Style

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheWrongKindOfPC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWrongKindOfPC/gifts).



> Happy birthday! This may end up being totally jossed by EK's next book, but so what! Have a great day.

**Style**

Not for Jess those demure ear-bobs of pink pearl or moonstone; oh, no, the earrings of her dreams were bright loops of copper wire with green stones - “Adventureen,” said the stall mistress. Jess savored the taste and sound of the word, like a sharp salt-scented breeze from far away, though she knew that wasn't really what that green stone was called. Seven brass minnows, fiercely bargained down from ten, but no matter, because she only had four, and wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the Riverside market in any case. But the stall mistress agreed to hold them for half an hour, and so. 

Four minnows, and her knife: the one Richard St Vier had given her when she visited Kyros, back when she was small, the happiest summer in all her thirteen years. She had traveled first on a ship, and then ridden a donkey all over the dusty countryside while a stranger droned on and on about ancient gods and kings, and occasionally mumbled apologies for being a bad father. A white stone house high above the blue sea, red flowering thyme, and bees, so many bees. And no one to tell her, ever, that whatever she was doing wasn't ladylike. 

One unseasonably stormy day, Richard St Vier had taken her to a corner of the stable, given her a knife of her very own, to keep, and taught her to play mumblety-peg. Just because he was blind didn't mean he still couldn't play, because he was amazing and very possibly magical. Jess hadn't even been sure she believed in magic until she saw Richard St Vier play mumblety-peg. By the time her father found them in the stable and said, “Richard, are you corrupting my child?” with laughter in his voice, she could play mumblety-peg too. 

Four minnows, and her knife: she wandered the edges of the marketplace until she found a game. Not with adults, she knew she wasn't that good, though she had kept up her practice by playing with the stable boys at Tremontaine House. Instead she found a game with kids not-too-much older than herself, and after a while she came back with five brass minnows and two carved onyx buttons. That was a good enough trade for the stall mistress, who'd only paid three minnows for the earrings herself, and could easily get two minnows each for the buttons. Which Jess figured, anyway, but didn't care. And she'd actually won three more minnows than that. 

And so Jess wore those earrings, boldly, the next time she had to dress for dinner. Katherine didn't make them do it every night, thank goodness; sometimes they ate in the small parlor, and sometimes they each had trays in their rooms, and sometimes they even ate in the kitchen. But sometimes they did dress, and occasionally there were guests, and at least Jess didn't always have to wear that hideous pink or yellow or baby blue that the dressmaker considered appropriate for young girls. 

No, the dress she wore was pale sea-green, with [long earrings of copper wire and aventurine](http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/just_ann_now/3930116/96167/96167_900.jpg) dangling down nearly to her shoulders. Katherine looked once, and looked again; Marcus flashed her a grin. And even though the holes in Jess's ears were slightly greenish and swollen the next day, it was worth it, it was so worth it.


End file.
